The size distributions of all Indian cities

Jeff Luckstead, Stephen Devadoss and Diana Danforth

Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 2017, vol. 474, issue C, 237-249

Abstract: We apply five distributions–lognormal, double-Pareto lognormal, lognormal-upper tail Pareto, Pareto tails-lognormal, and Pareto tails-lognormal with differentiability restrictions–to estimate the size distribution of all Indian cities. Since India contains numerous small cities, it is important to explicitly model the lower-tail behavior for studying the distribution of all Indian cities. Our results rigorously confirm, using both graphical and formal statistical tests, that among these five distributions, Pareto tails-lognormal is a better suited parametrization of the Indian city size data, verifying that the Indian city size distribution exhibits a strong reverse Pareto in the lower tail, lognormal in the mid-range body, and Pareto in the upper tail.

Keywords: Indian city size distribution; Lognormal body; Lower-tail reverse Pareto; Transitions points; Upper-tail Pareto (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:474:y:2017:i:c:p:237-249

DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2017.01.065

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